The following story and pictures are by Cody students, Alaina Melchert and Katelyn Morris

Mike Coyne-Logan came and visited our Cody Elementary school on Friday, April 28. He works at Living Lands and Waters. They take groups of people out on the river to clear the banks of trash. He told us about what he does in his job, how he met Chad Pregracke, and so on and so forth. Mr. Coyne-Logan told us about how much they do for the Mississippi and the people that use its water. They have previously cleared large areas of mountains of trash. He explained that because of his work he lives on a barge, and has his own little room on that barge where he sleeps.

He didn’t only come to tell us about picking up trash and what trash does to the planet, but instead he also came with a message. His message was that you can make a difference! And that is not all. He came with more than empty words of encouragement! He came with solid proof! He showed us real pictures of a beach on the Mississippi. Picture in your head a beach, but instead of sand, all there seems to be is trash. Plastic bottles strewn everywhere, cans heaping into the water, and styrofoam sprinkled every here and there! Then, he showed us a picture of a fabulous sand bank with clean water lapping at the tips of it. The magnificent beach was so entirely cleared of trash, it was hard to picture that it had once had even a few cans on the sand! They were the same beach! The Living Lands and Waters crew had completely cleared the beach and water of trash! But the most encouraging and amazing part about that, was that all that started with one man who wanted to get something done.

We also found that Coyne-Logan comes with a sense of humor! Usually our class gets bummed about visiting speakers, but at this one they left laughing and remembering the hilarious rap that Mr. Logan performed for us. Many members of 5D, and some of 5H have taken to calling him “The Pun Master” because of his various pun jokes he performed. He taught us so much, but at the same time he gave us a good reason to miss our usual class! Heh-heh.

Mr. Coyne Logan both inspired us, and made us laugh, when he came to teach us.